Who’s ready for another US government shutdown? Or martial law in America? Or both?
Senate Democrats are threatening to turn the lights off in D.C. for the second time in four months unless tens of billions in new money for the Department of Homeland Security is removed (or separated) from a government funding measure that needs to pass by Friday.
The uproar, which gathered momentum on Sunday, began after ICE agents killed another US citizen in Minneapolis, this time an ICU nurse who worked at the VA. Alex Pretti, 37, was shot multiple times in broad daylight and in full view of the public while lying on the street.
His death comes less than three weeks after federal immigration enforcers shot 37-year-old Renée Good as she attempted to execute (no macabre pun intended) a close-quarters turn in her SUV, the front-end of which came close to striking an agent who opened fire through Good’s windshield, hitting her twice in the chest, once in the arm and, just in case, once in the head. (“Are you sure she’s dead, Jon?”)
The circumstances surrounding Pretti’s death on Saturday are the subject of some debate, and it seems very likely the powers that be in D.C. will stymie any attempt on the part of local officials to establish the truth. But video footage from the scene tells most of the story.
Pretti came out to protest legally armed. He had a permit. He was licensed to carry. You might fairly suggest that showing up armed to the scene of violent unrest isn’t the best choice even if you’re not breaking any laws. But here’s the thing: As of this writing, there’s no evidence that ICE officers knew Pretti had a gun. He doesn’t appear to brandish it. Rather, it looks as though agents only discovered it after wrestling him to the ground, at which time they seized the weapon, then shot him.
If that’s accurate it’s, um, bad. At the risk of giving an otherwise incompetent bunch any good ideas, if they’ve any sense about them, the Trump administration will argue that once Pretti’s gun was seized, he tried to disarm one of the officers as they struggled to subdue him, thereby justifying defensive force. They might add, even if it’s a lie, that Pretti verbally threatened them.
Such an excuse, while probably dubious, would be impossible to disprove based on the existing video footage. Or anyway a lot harder to disprove than it’ll be to prove that Pretti came to the protests to “massacre law enforcement,” as the federal official in charge of the Minneapolis ICE surge claimed, or to substantiate Stephen Miller’s characterization of Pretti as “an assassin [who] tried to murder federal agents.” (That remark drew a Goebbels comparison from former celebrity sell-side analyst Marko Kolanovic.)
As far as the shutdown threat, the House-passed funding bill needs seven Democratic votes to clear the Senate, which is seven more than Republicans were set to receive following Pretti’s death. If the legislation’s changed to accommodate Democrats’ demands, the House would have to reconvene to vote on the “new” measure.
Any potential re-vote presents a logistical problem. House lawmakers skipped town after passing the existing bill, in keeping with standard operating procedure for Congress, which seemingly gets a mini-vacation after every bill passed. (“Congratulations, Bob.” “You too Bill.” “Sticking around town?” “Me? Hell no, I’m going home. You?” “Same.”)
The GOP leadership in the Senate’s obliged to preserve funding for Trump’s immigration enforcement effort, which means John Thune’s in a helluva bind: Whatever he says publicly, Thune doesn’t support the broad-day shooting of white US citizens in the middle of America’s streets by — and let’s just call ICE what it is these days — Trump’s personal paramilitary arm. But, if he agrees to strip DHS funding from the spending bill, Trump will lose his mind.
At least for now, the lawmakers who caved to Republicans in November — when the GOP starved out (literally) Democrats by denying food aid to low-income households during what ended up being the longest shutdown in history — are prepared to go to battle again.
Catherine Cortez Masto, for example, over the weekend accused Trump and Kristi Noem of putting “undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets,” where ICE is “oppressing Americans and brutalizing US citizens and law-abiding immigrants.”
Jacky Rosen who, like Cortez Masto, cited the weaponization of SNAP benefits by Republicans in November — and, implicitly, Democrats’ powerlessness to stop it — in voting to end the last shutdown, said Saturday that, “The abuses of power we are seeing from ICE in Minneapolis and across the country are un-American and cannot be normalized.”
“Enough is enough,” Rosen went on, adding that, “My personal guiding principle has always been ‘agree where you can and fight where you must.’ And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.”
And so the stage was set for another shutdown showdown. The GOP has to choose between adopting (tacitly) Trump’s description of the Minneapolis protesters, living and dead, as “domestic terrorists” on the way to holding the line and closing down the government anew. Or agreeing to consider the DHS funding separately to ensure the rest of the spending measures pass, thereby (implicitly) agreeing with the likes of Rosen that at least when it comes to this particularly issue, “Enough is enough.”
Ironically, ICE will be funded regardless. As The New York Times pointed out, “while other departments and agencies would most likely shutter if Senate Democrats filibuster the spending package, ICE could potentially tap the $75 billion Republicans allocated to it in their marquee domestic policy bill [which] largely contained tax cuts and spending reductions for programs including Medicaid and food assistance, but also included $190 billion for the Department of Homeland Security.”
What can you say? “The public executions will continue until morale improves.”
Chipping away at society one death at a time.
Republicans have been busy today explaining that the 1st and 2nd amendments are ‘either/or’.
When do we get a “Let the eat cake” moment – to start sending those who deserve it to their Marie & Louis moments (or at least to Nuremburg)?
[Let THEM, that should be]
Perhaps, after a couple months of shutdown they can compromise on: “ICE leaves any state per the request of its governor, and the Insurrection Act is suspended until 2030.” I know, I’m a dreamer. And we’d still have to get through 3 years with a democracy intact at the other end of it, but… best I’ve got.
Normally a shutdown doesn’t help either party.
In this case I think Americans are more likely to be unhappy with the Dems if they don’t shut down the Gov’t.
The blame for all this clearly can be laid at the foot of Donald Trump. He has created the toxic environment within which human conflict naturally arises; as his campaign rolls on to purge the country of non christian nonwhite people.
There needs to be a legal pathway to residency or citizenship for immigrants who have been here for years, if not decades, and who have established their lives and families here. Regardless of whether or not they originally came into the US legally or not- at some point, enough time has passed that we need to do “the right thing” as a country- and provide a legal pathway.
Whether it’s the “right” thing or not needn’t even be considered in a lot of cases. As far as I’m concerned, if someone’s here, minding their businesses, obeying the law, paying (all sorts of) taxes which fund (all sorts of) public goods and services I use, then that’s a person I want to stay, for purely selfish reasons. I don’t care how they got here — running, swimming, or raft-sledding out the side of a plane like Indy and Short Round — nor do I care what their “status” is. If they’re helping me out, they can stay. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m not trying to deport the people who harvest and cook the food I eat, build the houses I live in and take care of everything I need taken care of, all for a bargain price. Who in their right mind wants to deport those people? It’s lunacy.
+100
There is actually not much debate.
If six guys were on him, then he couldn’t possibly pose a threat. How can 11 bullets possibly be justified?
The only “debate” is about what can be done to constrain this lawless president.
It was interesting to see how mainstream media, CNN and Fox News and others, failed to push back at all, when administrative liars, such as Noem, Patel, and Bessent tried to spin an obvious and blatant murder, into something else.
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.”
There has never been a clearer example of gaslighting, in both of Trump’s two terms, (although there may have been some ties.)
There have been many similar shameless moments in Trump’s terms. Each time it happens, we can only reflect on the enablers that made it all possible. John Roberts. Mitch McConnell. All the Republican senators who failed to impeach, after the events of January 6th. Merrick Milquetoast Garland, and his ever so cautious approach. Joe Biden for failing to recognize the threat of Trump. Why couldn’t Biden release those Epstein files? And of course, We can’t forget the American people, for re-electing a documented liar (to the tune of 30k lies in his first term), as well as a 34 count convicted felon.
Some uncomfortable realities are becoming clear. 1. Trump’s base will support him no matter what happens. 2. There are too many Trump friendly judges to expect the law to hold this administration accountable. 3. Things will continue to get more violent. 4. The Democrats are not going to risk their necks for their constituents.
Suing the administration will not solve this. Voting for the other party won’t solve this. Expecting 30% of the country to suddenly wake up to what they have been supporting for a decade won’t happen.
These people really and truly believe that the Left is their enemy and they want blood for their perceived slights. Don’t buy it? Read “The Undertow” by Jeff Sharlett. The man who has been trying to warn us about the Family for over a decade.
If I may be so bold, here’s a prediction:
– ICE gets involved in ensuring election “safety” at key competitive districts. Let’s say they’ll go for 125% of districts Republicans need to keep the house
– “suspicious looking” people get pulled from lines and are delayed long enough to not vote. There’s a quota: they have to stop 200% of the margin of error of the polls at the district
– Republicans keep the House and the Senate
– if violence erupts as word of this spreads, even better for them: Insurrection Act called, elections postponed until further notice
– if violence doesn’t erupt, this model is repeated and improved over time
If you are wondering whether there is support in the USA for this ICE (pronounced SS) violence, below are statistics from a Politico poll:
Maga republicans 12% too aggressive, 64% just right , 21% not aggressive enough
Non-Maga republicans 29% too aggressive, 47% just right, 17% not aggressive enough.
We’re all in trouble